Description: Federal involvement in the education of the handicapped increased significantly with the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142) in the 94th Congress. This legislation amended the provisions for State assistance under Part B of the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA, P.L. 91-230, title VI, as amended) to require that a "free appropriate public education" be available for all handicapped children age 3 through 21 by September 1980. P.L. 94-142 authorized increased Federal financial assistance along with new requirements for participating State agencies and local school districts. Current issues relating to Federal policy for the education of the handicapped include concerns about costs and responsibilities in educating the handicapped, about the level of Federal financial support, about the characteristics of handicapped children actually identified and served, about the implementation of P.L. 94-142 requirements by State and local school districts, and about Administration proposals to revise Part B regulations.

Description: This paper explores selected questions involving the busing of elementary and secondary school students for desegregation. On each of the selected questions a general analysis of the issue involved is presented, followed by two subsections entitled A Critic's Position and An Advocate's Position. In these subsections, an attempt is made to show how a critic of busing for desegregation and an advocate of such busing might fashion arguments on this issue in opposition to, or in support of, busing.

Description: The mandatory transportation of school children to desegregate public elementary and secondary schools is an issue of deep contention throughout our society. The House of Representatives has approved language for the Department of Justice FY82 authorization bill (H.R. 3462) restricting the Department's involvement in actions requiring school busing. On Mar. 2, 1962, t h e Senate approved the version of the Department of Justice F Y 8 2 authorization Bill (S. 951) with language restricting the Justice Department's involvement in busing actions as well as imposing limits on the busing plans Federal courts can impose. S. 551 was then sent to the House for consideration. Hearings on S. 951 before a house Judiciary subcommittee began on June 1'7, 1982.

Description: The quality of education in our schools, particularly our high schools, and appropriate Federal actions to improve educational quality have become a major political issue. A number of reports on education with recommendations for change have been issued, among them A Nation At Risk by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. These reports are critical of how our Schools are functioning and call for improvement in areas such as teaching, curriculum, and standards for student performance and behavior. Some issues raised by these reports are whether these changes are needed, how these changes might be implemented, and what might be the roles of different- levels of government in this process.

Description: This notice from the Department of Transportation, denies a petition for rule-making filed by Physicians for Automotive Safety (PAS), asking this agency to mandate the installation of seat belts on all school buses. NHTSA believes that the currently mandated occupant protections in school buses provide an adequate level of safety protection, and that seat belts would not raise the level of protection for the occupants unless States and local jurisdictions were willing to take steps to ensure that the seat belts were actually used.

Description: This report discusses how broad should the coverage of Federal civil rights laws be? This was the central issue in the debate over legislation introduced in response to the February 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Grove City College v. Bell.

Description: Congress considers annually the funding level for all programs administered by U.S. Department of Education (ED). The debate in this process has focused on how much the Federal Government should spend on education , and what, if any, program changes might be necessary to achieve these levels.

Description: This issue brief analyzes six areas in which Federal policies to address the educational system's current needs are being fashioned (1) services for disadvantaged youth, (2) the financing of post-secondary education, ( 3 ) the level of Federal appropriations for education, ( 4 ) responses to adult illiteracy, (5) international economic competitiveness, and (6) the role of vocational education.

Description: Improvement on America's competitive position in international trade is one of the major issues confronting the 100th Congress. Most legislative proposals have included provisions for increasing the funding levels for Federal education programs, expanding current programs, or authorizing new programs. The primary goal is to improve the productivity of the Nation's workers by raising the skill level of the workforce. Discussions about education's role i n addressing the competitiveness issue have included the contribution of education to productivity growth, comparisons of the educational achievement of American school children with that of their peers in other nations , the educational needs of illiterate adults , and the role of technology in education.

Description: This report discusses the reauthorization of most Federal elementary and secondary education programs, which the 100th Congress is currently considering, as well as the creation of several new programs. Issues have included: (1) Federal versus ~tate/local priorities in the use of funds; (2) use of formula grants or competitive grants to allocate funds; (3) services for eligible nonpublic school children; (4) relationship between Federal programs and State-level school reform activities; and (5) information about programs and participants for the Congress.